Federer, Agassi set up showdown
in last eight
Melbourne, January 23
Roger Federer and Andre Agassi set up a tantalising quarter final showdown between the current and former world number ones after they emerged victorious at the Australian Open today.

Serena Williams of the USA reacts to a line call during her fourth round match against Nadia Petrova of Russia at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Sunday.

Maria Sharapova of Russia waves to the crowd after her fourth round victory over Silvia Farina Elia of Italy at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Sunday.
— Reuters
photos

Melbourne, January 23
Sania Mirza hopes that her performance at the Australian Open will inspire other women in India to greater heights in the game.
“This is the way I look at it: if I can do it, anyone can do
it,” said Mirza, who has became the first woman tennis player
from India to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament. Sania Mirza arrives at Sahar
airport in
Mumbai on Sunday.
—
PTI photo

Bhupathi-Woodbridge in quarterfinals
Melbourne, January 23
Third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Todd Woodbridge registered a hard-fought win over Spanish duo of Albert Costa and Rafael Nadal to move into the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles championship of the Australian Open here today.

Pollock strikes twice to halt
England’s progress
Centurion, January 23Shaun Pollock took two wickets in an over as
South Africa hit back on the third day of the fifth and final cricket Test
against England at Centurion Park today. England were 66 for three at lunch in reply to South Africa’s first innings total of 247.

Clarke guides Aussies to win
Melbourne, January 23
Michael Clarke scored an unbeaten century to guide Australia to a nine-wicket win over Pakistan in their one-day international at the Sydney Cricket Ground today.
Clarke hit the winning runs with a boundary in the 37th over to finish 103 not out as Australia raced past Pakistan’s dismal total of 163.

Michael Clarke of Australia plays a shot as Pakistani wicketkeeper Kamram Akmal watches during their one-day
international match in Sydney on Sunday. — Reuters photo

Controversy a media event: GillBatra refuses to go back on anything
Chandigarh, January 23
Claims by the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) chief, Mr KPS Gill, that recent controversy over the functioning of the federation, which was just a media event, has died its natural death notwithstanding, senior vice-president of the federation, Mr Narinder Batra, wants to “take the battle to logical conclusions”.

Anand beats Bruzon to join leaders
Wijk Aan Zee, January 23
Viswanathan Anand scored his third straight victory, outplaying Grand Master Lazaro Bruzon of Cuba in the seventh round of the Corus chess tournament here.
With the fantastic positional victory, Anand elevated himself to the top pack and was now on 4.5 points from seven games in this category-19 event, being played under Classical time control.

East Bengal win 2-0
Margao, January 23
Defending champions East Bengal utilised the space provided by rival defenders to beat Churchill Brothers 2-0 and score their first win in the National Football League here today.
The win took East Bengal to five points from three matches.

ITF tourney in Chandigarh
from Feb 7
Chandigarh, January 23
Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association is gearing up to host the ITF Junior (Grade-3) Circuit Tennis Tournament under the auspices of the All-India Tennis Association
from February 7 to 12 at the CLTA Tennis Stadium, Sector 10.

Mini Rural Olympics
Chandigarh, January 23
The 70th edition of the Mini Rural Olympics will be held at Kila Raipur from February 17 to 20, Mr S.S. Grewal, chief organiser of the Grewal Sports Association, announced here.

Amelie Mauresmo of France signs autographs for fans after her fourth round victory over Evgenia Linetskaya of Russia at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Sunday. — AP/PTI
photo

Melbourne, January 23
Roger Federer and Andre Agassi set up a tantalising quarter final showdown between the current and former world number ones after they emerged victorious at the Australian Open today.

Federer kept his Australian Open title defence on track with a commanding 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 fourth-round win over talented Cypriot qualifier Marcos Baghdatis.

Agassi, a four-time champion in Melbourne, stayed on course for a possible fifth title with a 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 win over big-serving Swede Joachim Johansson.

Another mouth-watering contest was looming in the women’s draw after Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova advanced to the quarterfinals to face her fellow Russian and US Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Sharapova recovered from trailing by a set and a break in the second to overcome Italian Silvia Farina Elia 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 while Kuznetsova overpowered her compatriot Vera Douchevina 6-4, 6-2.

Serena Williams, who completed a non-calendar year grand slam when she won in Melbourne two years ago, was forced to dig deep before beating 11th-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

The American would play second-seeded Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Russia’s Evgenia Linetskaya, but said she had a lot of work to do.

“To be honest, I did not deserve to win the way I played,’’ Williams growled.

“My serve was horrible. I made errors. I didn not play well or hit my shots right. I am going to have to improve a lot in my next match or it is going to be a struggle,” she said.

Marat Safin, runner-up to Federer 12 months ago, kept the Russian flag flying in the men’s draw when he clawed back to beat Belgium’s Olivier Rochus 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 in an epic match lasting three hours and 42 minutes.

Melbourne, January 23
Sania Mirza hopes that her performance at the Australian Open will inspire other women in India to greater heights in the game.
“This is the way I look at it: if I can do it, anyone can do it, and I have had most of my training in India,” said Mirza, who has became the first woman tennis player from India to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament.

Six-time Grand Slam winner and sixth-seed Serena Williams beat Mirza 6-1, 6-4 in a keenly watched match at the third round of the tournament last week.

India was yet to produce a world-class woman tennis player, but that might be about to change with the emergence of 18-year-old Mirza.

Having broken into the world’s top 200 women players in 2004, Mirza hoped that the impact of her performance at Melbourne Park would inspire girls from all over India to strive for excellence on the tennis court.

“I am sure and I hope that a lot of girls in India can get motivated by this and now we do have a lot of talent coming up in India, so I am sure it is going to help a lot of people,” she told the tournament’s official website.

Asked about her experience at the Australian Open, she replied laughing: “It has not been what I expected because I did not expect to get to the third round. So it is not really what I expected, it has been an overwhelming experience.”

“When I got here, I just wanted to have a good draw, which I did get. I got a wild card in the first-round and I could not expect anything more than that,” she said.

“Even though I was nervous and I got through that (first) match against Cindy Watson of Australia, the second match I played was a really good match. She (Petra Mandula of Hungary) used to be in top 30. I just had to go out there and play my game, that was what I did,” she said.

“I mean, third round, obviously no one expected me to win the match. It has been a great experience and, for the first Grand Slam, I am loving it,” said Mirza, who won the 2003 Wimbledon junior girls’ doubles title.

“I was very happy with the crowd support, I did not expect so much actually. I saw a lot of Indians there, and it was packed. I did not expect that. I totally enjoyed every bit of the match and it really (was) a learning experience for me,” she explained.

Exactly how much of an impact Mirza’s success at Melbourne Park would have on tennis in India and around Asia probably would not be known for some time. But the way she played, it was unlikely that she would need to rely on wild cards much longer, the website said.
— IANS

Melbourne, January 23
Third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Todd Woodbridge registered a hard-fought win over Spanish duo of Albert Costa and Rafael Nadal to move into the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles championship of the Australian Open here today.

The Indo-Australian duo rallied from a set down to win 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 in just over an hour and 30 minutes to set up a clash with fifth seeds Kevin Ullyett and Wayne Black of Zimbabwe for a place in the last four.

Bhupathi and Woodbridge had a tough time against the Spanish pair as they could not gain a single break point in the first two sets.

But the duo used all their experience to take the second set tie-breaker with relative ease and then broke their opponents twice in the decider to book their berth in the quarterfinals.
—PTI

Centurion, January 23
Shaun Pollock took two wickets in an over as South Africa hit back on the third day of the fifth and final cricket Test against England at Centurion Park today.

England were 66 for three at lunch in reply to South Africa’s first innings total of 247. South Africa need to win the match to share the series.

A run-out by Nicky Boje changed the course of the England innings after opening batsmen Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss made a rapid start.

Trescothick carried on in the form he showed in making 180 in the second innings of the fourth Test in Johannesburg and hurried to 20 off 26 balls in a total of 27 before he and Strauss got in a mix-up. Trescothick was sent back and Boje from mid-off hit the stumps at the bowler’s end.

Pollock then had Robert Key caught behind down the leg-side for a single and four balls later, claimed the wicket of England captain Michael Vaughan, who spliced a hook to mid-wicket before he scored.

England collapsed to 29 for three. Strauss played and missed several times against Pollock and Makhaya Ntini, but when Andrew Hall came into the attack, Strauss hooked his first ball for six.

Strauss and Graham Thorpe added an unbeaten 37 for the fourth wicket, but the scoring rate was slow.

South Africa resumed at 247 for nine, but England only needed two balls to wrap up the innings. Hall slashed Simon Jones to Strauss at third man to give the fast bowler figures of four for 44.

Melbourne, January 23
Michael Clarke scored an unbeaten century to guide Australia to a nine-wicket win over Pakistan in their one-day international at the Sydney Cricket Ground today.

Clarke hit the winning runs with a boundary in the 37th over to finish 103 not out as Australia raced past Pakistan’s dismal total of 163.
Inzamam-ul-Haq top-scored for Pakistan with 50 and Shahid Afridi chipped in with 48, but no one else made 20 as the world champions bowled and fielded superbly.

Australia, unbeaten in the triangular series after four matches, made light work of their run chase though their innings was disrupted by rain.

Clarke, promoted to open the batting after Adam Gilchrist was rested, smashed 14 fours and a six in a free-wheeling innings, that lasted just 107 balls, though he almost made a mess of achieving his century.

He had a let-off on 85 when Shoaib Malik appeared to have taken a clean catch at cover, but referred the matter to the third umpire, who gave Clarke the benefit of the doubt.

He got another lucky escape on 97 when Mohammad Hafeez dropped a straight-forward catch at long-on.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting also helped, by blocking the ball and refusing to take runs as the target drew closer.

‘’That was some dreadful batting there by myself, so I have to thank Ricky,’’ a relieved Clarke said. ‘’I do not know what I was thinking,’’ he said.

The start of the match was delayed by almost an hour, but still finished early after Pakistan’s innings came to a halt in the 40th over.

Left-arm spinner Darren Lehmann captured three wickets to mop up the tail after Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee ripped through the top-order.

McGrath trapped Salman Butt lbw for a duck in the third over and then bowled Shoaib Malik for eight, while Lee shattered Kamran Akmal’s stumps when the opener was on two.

Inzamam steadied the innings with a half century off 61 balls, but could not prevent the wickets from tumbling.

Yousuf Youhana was caught by Ponting at slip for four, Mohammad Hafeez fell to all-rounder Shane Watson and Abdul Razzaq was run out by Clarke for 16.

Afridi struck three sixes and three boundaries in his attempt to save the innings, but ran out of partners and was stumped by Brad Haddin.

Chandigarh, January 23
Claims by the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) chief, Mr KPS Gill, that recent controversy over the functioning of the federation, which was just a media event, has died its natural death notwithstanding, senior vice-president of the federation, Mr Narinder Batra, wants to “take the battle to logical conclusions”.

“I stand by every word I said or wrote in my letters,” maintains Mr Batra, holding that there was no “question of going back on anything.”

Mr Gill, however, says the spectacle of the Premier Hockey League has been so dominant that it has put to an end the “manufactured controversy” by certain vested interests who do not want Indian hockey to come up.

“The most important thing has been the timing of such unsavoury controversies,” says Mr Gill. “These crop up every time we want to start some thing new or sign a sponsorship deal. Incidentally, these controversies are in media only as the IHF continues to do its work of building a strong base for the national team,” he says.

“We are currently ranked fifth in the world. With a little bit of luck and push, we will be soon at number three berth,” says Mr Gill, holding that “popularity graph of hockey has been on the rise”.

“See the figures of viewers of Indo-Pak hockey series. Hockey has been on the upswing. The Premier Hockey League, about which we have been talking for two years, has started very well. All concerned were consulted before selecting the teams,” adds Mr Gill.

Mr Batra, however, holds a different view. “Why national league should have only five teams and all matches be played in one city? Why not take the league to all major towns and involve the top teams, including institutions? Why not hold national Championship for men. We had only one national championship since 1996,” he says.

“It is because no national championships for seniors are being held, recruitment of outstanding hockey players in various government departments and public sector undertakings has been stopped for want of national participation credentials,” adds Mr Batra.

Mr Gill, however, refutes the charge, saying players are being recruited in government departments. Gagan Ajit Singh got into Punjab Police as a Deputy Superintendent of Police on the basis of his performance as a Junior World Cup player. “We have been focussing on the junior hockey, in which we have been holding the national championship regularly. Our endeavour has been to strengthen the base and we have been successful in that. From a base of 30 players for the national team, we have now more than 60 players vying with each other for a place in the senior team,” he says.

Mr Batra says so far, he has not got any balance sheet. “My information is that it is still not ready. After I joined Mr Gill in addressing a joint press conference, I have not met him, though I have talked to Mr K. Jothikumaran twice. He has circulated minutes of the last annual general meeting, which are unsigned,” he says.

“I want every detail of all expenses on telephone bills, travel, hotel stays and taxi bills of both the president and the secretary general for the last one year. When we have two instead of one executive secretary, why should the secretary general travel six or seven times a month to Delhi from Chennai by air at the cost of the Federation. Why not use this money for the infrastructure or betterment of players,” says Mr Batra, holding that soon he will come out with some strong evidence to prove his point.

“Just wait for a while and see how I prove my point,” adds Mr Batra.

Running the federation should be left to players and other professionals. “How can we tolerate a foreign coach to malign us when he never met any one other than the president or the secretary general of the IHF. How can he call the entire IHF as a mad house. No one in the federation was taken into confidence about his appointment or removal of Rajinder Singh Senior. Players are selected and dropped without taking selection committee members into confidence. This is not a done thing,” holds Mr Batra.

Mr Gill, however, says for every decision, he tries to consult everyone. For example, while naming teams for the PHL, they consult their employers and also the units.

“We have decided to hold the senior national championship in March, immediately after the PHL. We have divided the teams into eight zones,” adds Mr Gill, saying a decision about the new national coach will be taken at a later stage.

Imphal Rangers, who did match Delhi Dazzlers in the first quarter, lost control of the match towards the end. Imphal Rangers opened their account first, with Brojen Singh scoring a field goal in the middle of the first quarter.

Stunned by their opponents’ goal, Delhi Dazzlers retaliated. Their first goal came through Gurucharan Singh. Raghuvamshi, from the left flank, gave a pass to the top of the D, where Gurucharan seized the opportunity and made no mistake in sending the ball in.

Delhi Dazzlers, who kept the ball in their possession for most of the second quarter, increased their lead with Raju scoring a field goal off a pass from Ajit Pal.

In the third quarter, Delhi Dazzlers made full use of a lapse in the Imphal Rangers’ defence. Amit shot from a narrow angle to beat Tomba Singh and goalkeeper Harojit Singh to give Delhi Dazzlers a 3-1 lead. In the fourth and last quarter, Delhi really dazzled and scored two goals through Gurucharan Singh in two minutes.

First, he scored a field goal off a pass from Ajit Pal Singh from the right flank and later, he converted the fifth and last penalty corner with a drag-flick. A minute later, Brojen Singh converted their penalty corner after a pass from a dummy to reduce the margin.

Wijk Aan Zee, January 23
Viswanathan Anand scored his third straight victory, outplaying Grand Master Lazaro Bruzon of Cuba in the seventh round of the Corus chess tournament here.
With the fantastic positional victory, Anand elevated himself to the top pack and was now on 4.5 points from seven games in this category-19 event, being played under Classical time control.

Anand shared the lead with Grand Masters Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, Michael Adams of England and Peter Leko of Hungary.

It was Anand’s day yet again as he crashed through the defences of his young and relatively inexperienced rival in quick time.

Playing the black side of a structure akin to the Catalan opening, Anand first secured a level position and slowly outwitted Bruzon to win a pawn in the middle game.

Once on top, Anand gave no chance at all and won the game in just 41 moves. Four-time winner here, the Indian ace was now a firm contender to claim the title third time in a row.

In another seventh round game, former Russian champion Peter Svidler downed Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands in a one-sided contest.

Svidler, who was yet to win a game here until today, comprehensively outclassed Van Wely in all departments of the game. It was a Closed Sicilian opening, where Svidler, probably tired of his failures here, went for the kill quickly and Van Wely had no clue as to what hit him. The Russian won in just 20 moves after ripping apart Wely’s king side.

Former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov drew with Vladimir Kramnik, but not after an intense struggle.

Playing black, Kramnik was subjected to an all-out onslaught by his opponent, but careful display ensured that he remained in the game till the end.

Ponomariov first sacrificed a rook and then recovered a piece with fantastic compensation, but Kramnik just in time got the perpetual checks to force sharing of the point after 45 moves.

Englishman Michael Adams and Peter Leko signed truce after 41 moves while Topalov and Russian Alexander Morozevich achieved the same result after 40 moves.

Margao, January 23
Defending champions East Bengal utilised the space provided by rival defenders to beat Churchill Brothers 2-0 and score their first win in the National Football League here today.

The win took East Bengal to five points from three matches. Churchill Brothers, who suffered their second defeat, were on one point from three matches.

Churchill Brothers controlled the match throughout and had more of the ball possession and scoring chances, but their tale of missed chances continued as their strikers failed to capitalise on scoring opportunities.

The hosts also failed to make use of the one-man advantage they had for more than 50 minutes due to lack of proper planning.

The defending champions lost Alvito D’Cunha eight minutes from the breather after he handled the ball near their penalty box and was shown the yellow card.

Since this was the second yellow card for the midfielder in the match, East Bengal had to play the remaining match with 10 players.

Churchill Brothers coach Shabir Ali made substitutions, bringing in strikers I.M. Vijayan and Mohammed Najeeb, but these did not effort on the rival defence, who stood the test.

Bhaichung Bhutia, who was well-marked by Churchill Brothers’ defenders, had a chance on either side of half-time, but saw his first attempt hit the post in the dying minutes.

The striker, meanwhile, collided with Mascarenhas and the Churchill Brothers’ custodian, who was hurt on his head, had to be rushed to hospital for medical attention.
— PTI

Chandigarh, January 23
Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association
(CLTA) is gearing up to host the ITF Junior (Grade-3) Circuit Tennis Tournament under the auspices of the All-India Tennis Association
(AITA) from February 7 to 12 at the CLTA Tennis Stadium, Sector 10.

The tournament has been approved by the International Tennis Federation
(ITF). Mr Rajan Kashyap, chairman, CLTA, said all matches would be played on eight outdoor synthetic courts in the CLTA complex. He said the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) would be the principal sponsor for the event. Mr SM Sharma, IPS, will the tournament director and Mr Birbal Wadhera the tournament referee.

Mr SM Sharma said under-18 boys and girls from 29 countries would participate in the tournament. The main draw consists of 32 players each in boys and girls sections.

The top seed in the boys section of main draw is Myles Blake of Great Britain.The Indian challenge in the main draw of girls will be led by Madura Ranganathan (top seed).

Chandigarh, January 23
The 70th edition of the Mini Rural Olympics will be held at Kila Raipur from February 17 to 20, Mr S.S. Grewal, chief organiser of the Grewal Sports Association, announced here.

He said that the main attractions of this festival would be special events for special sportsmen and women, besides the traditional events like bullock-cart races, camel and cart races.

Besides, the country's top sportsmen in track and field, athletics, kabaddi and other events have confirmed their participation in the festival.

Mr Grewal further said that gymnasts from ITBP and Patiala, archers from Jharkhand and Uttaranchal, and top wrestlers from Punjab and Haryana would be other major attractions of the festival this year.

For the lovers of traditional events, said Mr Grewal, there will a lot of new items. Bazigars have confirmed their participation.

New Delhi, January 22
The Zakir Hussain Memorial Football Tournament for colleges, scheduled
to start on January 29, will now begin on February 1 at the Ambedkar
Stadium.
Entries close with organising secretary Syed Shaheen at Zakir Hussain
College, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, New Delhi, on January 24. All Delhi
colleges are expected to participate.

BRIEFLY

Lyon refuse to release players
LYON: French champions Olympique Lyon say they will not release their Brazilian internationals Juninho and Cris and Ghanaian Michael Essien for a benefit match to help victims of the Asian tsunami.
The ‘Football for Hope’ match organised by FIFA will take place in Barcelona on February 15.
Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane are among more than 50 of the world’s top players invited to play in the match.
— Reuters

World record
FRANKFURT: South Africa’s Ryk Neethling has set a world record in the 100 metres individual medley with a time of 52.11 seconds at the Berlin World Cup.

Neethling’s effort bettered the mark of 52.51 set by fellow South African Roland Schoeman in Stockholm earlier this month.
There was consolation for Schoeman, though, as he equalled the 100m freestyle short-course world record of 46.25 seconds set by American Ian Crocker in New York on March 27, 2004.
— Reuters

Chela fined
MELBOURNE: Juan Ignacio Chela was fined $ 2,000 on Sunday for unsportsmanlike conduct after an ugly incident, when the Argentine spat towards Australian rival Lleyton Hewitt during an Australian Open third round match.

Tournament referee Peter Bellenger reviewed a video of Saturday’s highly charged contest before the fine was announced by the International Tennis Federation, which ran grand slam events.
The maximum penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct was $ 10,000 but it was rarely applied.
— Reuters

Monkey business
DURBAN: Birdie, eagle and to a lesser extent albatross are noted golfing terms, but monkey is certainly not in the lexicon.

At least that was the case until the second round of the South African Open at Durban Country Club on Friday.
Local professional Mark Murless’s approach to the seventh found the greenside bunker and as he was making his way to his ball, a monkey swooped from a tree to investigate.
After a close inspection it dropped the ball before grabbing it again, placing it in its mouth and heading for the bushes.
Fortunately for the golfer, the thief decided the ball was less than tasty and dropped it in the rough above the hazard.
— Reuters

Costly error
NEW YORK: Dean Wilson of the USA was disqualified from the $ 4.5 million Buick Invitational when he failed to sign his scorecard after completing his fog-delayed second round.

It was a costly error for Wilson, who carded a bogey free opening round of nine-under 63 to sit one stroke behind leader Tom Lehman and had easily made the cut despite completing his second round with a three-over 75.
His six-under 138 was well inside the cut of two-under 142.
— Reuters

Netball championship from tomorrowPatiala: The 4th All India Inter University netball championship will be held on the Punjabi University campus from January 25 to
29. Twenty-two teams from all over the country will vie for supremacy in both the men’s and women’s categories. According to Mr Raj Kumar Singh, director (sports), Punjabi University, the five-day meet would be inaugurated by VC Dr S.S Boparai while hockey chief coach at the NIS Harmik Singh will preside over the closing ceremony on January 29.
— OSR